iBooks Author Page Size Question

I'd be happy just to know what the default page size is... the rulers show that it's something fractional. 14.2222" wide is 1024 at 72 dpi, but height isn't quite 3/4 that, or 768. Rather, it's more like 748, it seems. Any idea?

@vinnyvg

Your reply is of no use to me, you didn't cite your sources, and you appear to be an over-zealous apologist for Apple. Your admonishing and beligerant style of discussion has no place on this forum.

As for the security issue see this 230 page thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5460803?start=0&tstart=0

I've used Apple products for 30 years+ and I know the score about publishing, I've used Pages and InDesign to publish books. My issue is with the current restrictions around using iBooks Author as noted in my post.

The issue with reliability and use of Apple products is considerably more complex than

vinnyvg

First thing you should get clearly in your mind is that APPLE allow you to use their iBooksAuthor application under certain Terms and Conditions.

My mind works clearly differently from yours, Mr. vinnyvg.

I have a long association with Apple products, hardware, software and support. It dates from 1978 and a freebie from Apple, an Apple ][ placed in the math department where I worked with hope to get a foot in the academic door. Since then I have personal owned and used tens of thousands of dollars worth of Apple devices and software. I have made purchase decisions covering over $26,000,000 in Apple products for education and business. When Apple has asked a price I have paid it. When Apple has provided something for free I have take it. That is Apple's choice, but it does not change Apple's responsibility and it does not change my rights.

Using Apple products to write my lesson plans and my books, to manage my museum and my businesses never yields my personal rights to my creations. Should I wish to sell my software or books through Apple then I expect Apple will get a portion of the profit, not because of how I produce the works, but because they do the marketing.

In the matter of the capabilities of iBooks Author, yes it is narrowly defined. I find iBooks Author a spin off from Pages and the Book utility in iPhoto. Under my breath I gripe about shortcomings in myself and in Apple, but that is different from legal rights and usage.

In the matter of work-arounds from iBooks Author, that depends on what additional software a person wishes to use, how much one can spend and how organized one can be about workflow. Adobe Acrobat Pro is the standard for PDF work and must be understood, even mastered, but it is not capable of fully and competently dealing with a PDF exported from iBooks Author. The operator / writer must be alert and clever.

iBooks Author supports the artist well. Graphics can be any shape and can be easily overlapped within the given frame options. The layering is clever and quick and always editable, never lost in compacted or flattened layers. The programming errors in iBooks Author are serious which is why there has been no revision. It will have to be replaced.

iBooks Authors does not allow for multi-media except for its own iBooks presentation format. The Glossary and associated index are not capable of URL links. These are cautions for the person who might wish to use iBooks Author as one of several tools in the production of a work (of art or literature.) The "find" function does not search all text. Actually, indexing can only be done fully and accurately out side the xxx.ibook format.

The limitations of iBooks Author contribute to Apple's decision not to charge for it. It is below their usual standards. In addition, it appears at the same time Apple is deciding to offer many other previously charged-for products "for free". The changes have not all been good for the consumer, but that is the ebb and flow of technology.

i find more often than not it is better not to be burdened with "free", "promotional" or "public domain" software.

I help individuals with whom I have ongoing contact, constantly, with consequent shortcomings, but I have stopped offering cluttering complete explanations in public forums. Any change in the object of discussion can render a specific comment unnecessary or unnerving. These forums have lost their user group origin and roots for me.

I would not assume that iBooks Author is a general tool. It's for making iBooks, not print books, like InDesign. I suspect the PDF format is limited to page shapes that work on the iPad and iOS devices. In a sense, Apple is like an airline. You board, snooze and get off in Chicago or whereever. You don't care what Flight Level the plane flys, or how much fuel it burns. So you pour in your baggage, select Export or Publish and bang you are on the iPad or the iPhone.

Please refer to Apple Community's Guideline. If you really want to be helpful, be do so. You are annoying, really. Wasting Jesse and others and my time. People come to Apple Community know that they get answer fast, but not with games or circling around in games. Simple as that.

In closing, it would be nice if you are being more helpful instead of playing the words. If you want to play with words, go somewhere else.

Have an amazing day/evening! Thanks!

iBooks Author is for creating digital layouts specifically tailored for iPad consumption. You are better off sticking to Apple Pages as it more closely mimicks/shares the same type of features that are contained within iBooks Author.

Indesign as well as Quark are still the mainstream layout tools fore creating Print collateral...as of the latest versions of InDesign and Quark...both are beginning to introduce ebook production.

I would highly suggest you search for a tutorial pertaining to how to place images into indesign and how to minipulate them with your text boxes. Far more power in these programs...completely tailored for Print.

Can anyone give me instructions as to how I can:

1) Specify page spread dimensions for the whole document (except for the cover which I will design separately)?

Not possible as iBooks Author is set for portrait or landscape layout production for iPad consumption.

2) Export to PDF in proper printing format without faulty document dimensions or watermarks?

There are many flavors of the PDF format. For offset printing you should consider producing PDF-X1A certified to ensure you maintain high quality and compliant output.

esagustin013,

Indesign as well as Quark are still the mainstream layout tools fore creating Print collateral...as of the latest versions of InDesign and Quark...both are beginning to introduce ebook production.

As for your last sentence, it is not true that both are beginning to introduce eBook production. Adobe InDesign has been doing that for a couple of years, along with PDF technology. Now it even gets much better and, it is true that it is getting more powerful. It is not recommended for novices to use these apps, so iBooks Author app is a very nice simpe app especially designed for iPad platform.

I would highly suggest you search for a tutorial pertaining to how to place images into indesign and how to minipulate them with your text boxes. Far more power in these programs...completely tailored for Print.

Again, last sentence, it is not true that it was completely tailored for Print production. Adobe InDesign app is a totally different app now than it was once developed for at the time when Adobe first released InDesign 1.0 some years ago. I can't believe how time flew from 1.0 to now CS5.5. However, you are correct it is very powerful professional layout app for print and even eBook production and even ePUB production and all. And even PDF files for web. Even it works just fine in iPad opening PDF files.

I am intrigued by iBooks Author is capable of making more interactive iPad iBook textbooks.

I am interested about what Adobe have to say about iBooks Author app. 🙂 I wonder if Apple eventually develop professional-grade layout app - more powerful than that of iBooks Author or iWorks app. I guess we'll wait and see. Probably not.

Would you agree both Adobe and Quark are putting an emphasis on eBook and ePUB production just in the last year as traditional print is taking a side step to extinction? As a production artist for the last 17 years seeing these two companies finally focusing on real solutions for straight digital consumption is a godsend. When Adobe and Quark started integrating HTML tools (though rather poorly) into their layout programs you knew big things were coming....and here we are now present day with ePub/eBook authoring workflows...yes times have changed.

Bottom line for this thread...iBooks Author = iPad layout creation tool for rich interactive content. One would not layout an entire magazine using photoshop or Illustrator...you would turn to inDesign or Quark for that purpose.

I might have figured it out. I don't have my iPad on this trip (it's at home) but I suspect the 20 pixels of discrepancy between the iPad's resolution of 1024x768 and the apparent 1024x748 of iBooks Author might be the menu bar at the top. That would make sense, if it appears in the published book rather than going fullscreen.

Here's why I'd still like to see the pixel sizes of the margins, etc.: If I know (and can ideally adjust) those, then I can figure out precise sizes of graphics I'm dropping into the book so they're no larger than necessary. I do this for every book I publish, because why would one want to gum up the document with bigger files than necessary?

Another reason to know: it helps me keep all of the images well-proportioned (4:3, 3:2, golden mean, etc.) within a known frame size.

Jesse, I use InDesign for all my print books as well. Great tool, designed for print books, although it stumbles badly on e-books. iBooks Author, IMO, appears to do as great of a job on e-books as InDesign does on print books, although it appears it might do a better job going to print (via pdf) than InDesign does on e-books... just guessing. I could be wrong; haven't tried it yet.

InDesign can be daunting for the beginner not accustomed to the methodology of how text boxes and image boxes work. If you maintain the mentality that a layout program acts much like a word processor it will definitely be an up hill battle. Just get over that first hill and learn the basics of InDesign and you will look back at this post and laugh. (Simplified thought...running on coffee fumes..hope you get my drift 😝).

iIf you look at Apple iLife and iWork apps...your task of wanting to build a print layout book...definitely look at Apple Pages. The general workflow of iBooks Author is pretty much exactly what you would be doing in Apple Pages and Keynote...Pages being tailored for Print output.

Jesse,

Don't "throw the baby out with the bath water". If you like the potential fo iBooks Author, but feel handcuffed by its limitations, then use iWork Pages. It is not as complete as InDesign, but has everything you like about iBook Author – intuitive, user-friendly and easy-to-learn – without the limitations you describe. It can be output as PDFs and for print. Give it a try if you haven't yet.